Television

The title says it all: Jon Favreau to Executive Produce and Write Live-Action Star Wars Series. There is no date and no real details, other than this will be for Disney's new streaming platform at some point in the future. For those keeping track, this means there's a movie series coming from the Game of Thrones showrunners, another one from Rian Johnson, this TV show, Episode IX, and probably another spin-off and a cartoon in there somewhere.

With The Force Awakens it certainly feels like Star Wars is everywhere in the physical world, because it pretty much is. It's difficult to leave your home to buy groceries, batteries, or a Guavian Enforcer figure without seeing that logo somewhere. Back in the 1970s, Star Wars invaded television most frequently in comedy and variety shows, as you could plug in R2-D2 and C-3PO to pretty much any concept from Donny & Marie to Sesame Street. They just fit.

Richard Pryor also had a show in this era, which does double-duty as a time capsule and as a reminder of how and why Star Wars felt so incredibly tight. Once you watch the video (and you should), rewatch it and take note of the various costumes - some are complete, some are wobbly, and some look incredibly fake in this different context. The editing on the original Star Wars film was said to have saved it from certain humiliation, because a few frames further would reveal the secrets to the magic. You can see Hammerhead's wobble in this sketch. You'll note that Labria's devilish features are completely frozen - it's not a make-up, the only thing that can really move are his eyes and the few frames in the Cantina were lit and framed in such a way to give him the spark of life. It's a goofy little clip, but it does wonders to show the importance of editing and helps to highlight something of interest about The Force Awakens, too. (No spoilers follow, but recognition that the film exists and has been seen do.)

I think this new ToysRUs commercial sums up a lot of parental sentiments out there as the original generation passed on the torch to a new generation of Star Wars kids. It truly is a special time folks. Savor every moment.

Clone Wars: The Lost Missions DVD and Clone Wars: The Lost Missions Blu-Ray are in stores now. I saw them at Walmart over lunch, and you can click those links to get yours at Amazon. Each set has the unaired (but Netflixed) episodes, plus some reels of unaired episodes.

As Fake Shemp was unavailable, James Earl Jones will voice Darth Vader on en encore of Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion airing on ABC Sunday before the Disney Princess Live Action Mom Placation Hour. (You can read our review of the original DisneyXD airing here.)

Whether it be action figures or animated television series, the tea leaves certainly pointed to the inevitability of change and the ever evolving dynamic of the Disney acquisition and new films. In a further effort to focus their attention and resources to those new films, StarWars.com announces the future of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Detours.

This week on The Clone Wars: Darth Maul is actually compelling to watch in "Eminence." If you like your episodes peppered with fan service (minus the cheesecake), this is it. 22-minutes of pure love to fans of the show (and the franchise), this episode brings us back to Darth Maul and Savage Opress with a healthy dose of organized crime and Mandalorians. Also, Hutts, and Gamorrean arm wrestling. Want to know more? Damn right you do! More after the break.

This week on The Clone Wars: the battle on Onderon ends! "Tipping Points" brings us a bunch of action and resolution, speeding things along to a swift conclusion. The four-parter gave us our first look at Onderon in animation while shoving all our major players to the background. Was it worth sitting through? Let's discuss! As always, spoilers and video await you!

This week on The Clone Wars: things happen! Not extent to wallow in and repeat exposition, the oddly named "The Soft War" bring us more action, more character, and actual events that you can recount as being different from the events you have seen previously. It's almost like we're spoiled! Ahsoka gets to be cool, Steela gets to show off, and we get to see some one-way shielding, which is apparently now a thing. As always, spoilers and video await you!

We're back to The Clone Wars with "Front Runners," which is the second part in an ongoing story of Jedi-fueled rebellion on Onderon. The fight of the Onderon people against the Separatists continue, bringing us more time with Saw and SteelaGerrera and a fair amount of action sequences, plus more than a few throwbacks to a number of battles in the saga. As always, spoilers and video await you!

This week in Galactic Hunter Video Theater, it's more fun out-of-print goodness! Back in 1985, Saturday morning TV had The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour on ABC. You got 22 minutes of Ewoks, and 22 minutes of robots. Today, we look at The White Witch, the first normal-length episode of Droids which introduced us to things like TigFromm, Vlix, and a strange need of R2-D2 and C-3PO to be "owned." (There's a metaphor for a bad marriage in there somewhere.) Check out the full episode after the break.

Taking a total turn away from where The Clone Wars was going, "A War on Two Fronts," takes us to a place which the Expanded Universe invented almost 20 years ago with the planet Onderon. Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma fought Beast Riders there, and now Anakin and Obi-Wan are bringing us on an adventure where they're training insurgents with philosophical debates over if this is training terrorists or helping people free themselves from the enemy. Shades of classic Star Trek and real-world politics paint this episode, which also shows Ahsoka fawning over the returning LuxBonteri. Read on for more of S05E02, spoilers and video await you!